Budget analysts expect the federal deficit for the current fiscal year to soar past $1.75 trillion. President Obama plans to address this enormous shortfall by instructing cabinet officials to reduce spending by $100 million.

Looking at the projected deficit for the current year (in millions), we see it is $1,850,000. Lopping off a mere $100 million will lower the shortfall to $1,849,900, the equivalent of taking a bucket of water out of the Potomac.

How about canceling the $51 billion foreign aid program? Ask a fourth grader if giving away money makes sense when you’re way over your head in debt, and the fourth grader will give you a quick “No!” All foreign aid, always totally unconstitutional since it began, goes to governments and never directly to any hungry people. If poor people get anything from it, they have to pledge loyalty to their own leader, usually a tyrant.

Shouldn’t the tens of billions in education funding be cancelled when the results show cataclysmic declines in science, math, and reading performance? There is no authorization for the federal government to be in this arena. Abolish the Department of Education and the savings will be considerable. How considerable? On its website, the Department of education brags: "ED currently administers a budget of $68.6 billion per year—$59.2 billion in discretionary appropriations and $9.4 billion in mandatory appropriations—and operates programs that touch on every area and level of education."

A quick sum that any third grader can do indicates that cutting foreign aid and the department of education would save a combined $119.6 billion. That would be money that would stay put in every taxpayer's pocket. 

And this is not all we could cut. Years ago, the Carter administration discovered that our nation was importing one-third of its oil. So they came up with a flurry of measures to address this frightening situation. After a few decades of massive spending, including the creation of the costly Department of Energy, our nation is now importing 60 percent of its oil. Shouldn’t this unconstitutional federal department also be abolished? That would save many additional billions and billions of dollars.    

There's not really any question why we, as a nation, are in such great financial difficulty. Sure, the press blames the real estate bubble, but that was just symptom of the underlying disease. Ultimately, that disease is big government run amok. It's more than time for the federal government to be trimmed back. If Mr. Obama seriously intended to combat the nation’s economic travails, he’d be handing out axes for real cuts, not buckets for virtually meaningless reductions.  

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

Peter Steele said:

Junking all the departments except for State and Defense and the United Nations My late father earned his Valley Forge Freedom Foundation award because he was a Mayflower and a Son of the American Revolution. The Socialists in America like Norman Thomas caused our government to swell in size starting with FDR. This has to stop and every time we get into a war our government grows in size. I would feel better if we quit our foreign aid program and the IMF and WTO and stay out of the affairs of other nations [UN]. Our country is in deep debt.

report abuse vote down vote up

April 21, 2009
Votes: +1